Junior Primary Program (P1 to P3)

Directed toward building the grammar foundation, reasoning and logic fundamentals, proofreading techniques, reading comprehension, and presentation skills essential for nurturing future strong writers, our Junior Primary Program will focus on the application, or usage, of English literacy skills acquired in classes.

Grammar

The instructor will help students grasp the concepts of and understand the relationships among the eight parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections through the use of grammar symbols and stories.  Other core areas include regular and irregular verbs, comparatives and superlatives, active and passive voice, and the use of punctuation.  Having learned to identify and construct complete sentences in present, past, and future tenses, advanced students can progress to compose sophisticated sentence patterns and, for instance, delve into the correct use of colons and semicolons.  For all that, proofreading techniques will be introduced to students at young ages. 

The grammar list above is not exhaustive.

Writing and Logical Reasoning

Students will compose varietal forms of writing: persuasive essays, descriptive essays, compare-and-contrast essays, and creative writings.  They will learn to form a main idea or argument, devise supporting evidences for their claims, and draw conclusions.  The instructor will expose young students to simple rhetoric, such as similes, metaphors, and analogies, and encourage them to apply these rhetorical devices.  Equally important, for the Junior Primary, are plays and games—imaginative language activities comprise part of the process for stimulating creativity and developing critical thinking. Altogether they will be expected to deliver their claims succinctly, logically, stylishly, and creatively. 

Reading Comprehension and Oral Presentation

Acquiring reading skills—locating the main ideas, understanding the texts both on the literal and metaphorical levels, and building a high-frequency vocabulary using context clues—is an essential part of English literacy acquisition.  The works of Edward Lear, Sylvia Plath, Rudyard Kipling, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Jack London, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, E. B. White, Dr. Seuss, and Salman Rushdie—these English Children Classics will be introduced to students to instill a love for English and, correspondingly, gain vocabulary beyond the ESL (English as a Second Language) level. 

From time to time, students will present their ideas before a small, encouraging group of peers to gain confidence in speech and oral presentations, coupled with the introduction to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)—a system of phonetic notation we use to help students pronounce and identify British and American English accurately.  IPA will be applied throughout the progression of their language acquisition. The lessons are discussion-based:  students are encouraged to raise questions in classes and share their thoughts with their peers and the instructor.

The learning atmosphere is relaxed, in keeping with the purpose of fostering a love of English, building good reading habits, and gaining confidence in writing and speaking English.

Prerequisite:  P1 students should possess basic classroom English, for we conduct classes solely in English.